Archer character ( URGENT HELP NEEDED )

[demajen]

OK. I'm a writer, and I'm currently writing some Greyhawk fiction for my Creative Writing course portfolio. I'm trying to come up with a bunch of fresh new - and most importantly, unstereotypical - characters. Therefore I have decided to have an archer as the main character...no big musclebound galloot with a sword for me.

His "sidekick" will be a sentient bow (as yet unnamed) and in the first of the short stories, he will encounter another mainstay of the group, a Svirfneblin illusionist(/maybe artificer...undecided on this too).
But I sidetrack. My main problem is this. If, for example, I was to get my work published in Dragon or something, I'm sure people would be interested in seeing stats for my characters. Therefore I'm gonna write the rules for the characters first, and then pretty much stick to them as I write.

My main gripe is that i was gonna have the main dude be an Arcane Archer. Led on by my glory in Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the ps2, I mistakenly believed that humans could be arcane archers. I was going over my finished results and wham! ...it struck me... Half-Elves and Elves ONLY. Cursing loudly, I went back and undid my character back to scratch...almost... I have a list of feats, skills, equipment, physical details etc... but I don't have a class for the guy. Sure, he's a fighter (needs to be to get all the decent archer feats) but I want a prestige class.

Not owning any of the additional books, can anyone tell me what archer prestige classes there are (if any). Being a sunny Englander, we're a bit slow on the uptake with all these new supplements (they're impossible to get round here) so any help you could give would be appreciated. If you don't wanna post on the board, you can always e-mail me stuff at demajen@yahoo.com. There's gotta be some cool abilities out there somewhere - and I only want official stuff too... unofficial (ie. un-WotC stuff) malarky won't be any good.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for wading through this quite long post. More details about my characters, and my stories, fairly soon...hopefully...

- Many Thanks

- Jon "Demajen" Burrage

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Being as this is for a writing course and not a D&D game, you are more than able to break or bend the rules. If you want your main character to be an arcane archer who is also a human, I don't think it's a big deal. Just go with your arcane archer angle, a *human* arcane archer is quite unusual wouldn't you say?

 

[twjensen]

Masters of the Wild

The most recent supplement for PC-types includes Rangers. Of course, if you can't actually get the supplements. . .

I think there's nothing wrong with being an elf. Lots of my best friends are elves.

Since you're the *author* you can just *make up* a prestige class. I mean, why not? If the message board thinks the class is too unbalanced or dumb or whatever, who cares? It's going into your creative writing portfolio, not a WoTC supplement to the DMG, it doesn't NEED to be perfectly balanced.

 

[Jairami]

But, if you do want an archer prestige class there is the deepwood sniper, and order of the bow initiate. One for long range telling (critical) shots, and one for short distance precise shots (sneak attacks).

Neither may be what you are seeking for a cinematic that arcane archers can provide.

If you are seeking to have strong imagery founded in already existing rules, you might try a Psychic Warrior archer. This may or may not make a sentient bow more feasible as it could be psionic in nature.

Things like burst, catfall, animal affinity, metaphysical weapon, combat prescience, and combat precognition give some interesting visual trademarks if you customize the displays to be thematic to the character.

Ack. Sorry, just meant to provide the idea.

 

[demajen]

Wow, now there's an idea i never thought of. Love the Psychic Warrior idea... Now if I work with that, i have to jiggle feats quite a lot, cos i can't get all the kewl pscionic feats and all the kick-ass archer related feats...

But the imagery, now that could be really kewl... I can just imagine the guy running up the side of a wall and firing his bow at the same time.

Trouble is, how does Greyhawk fare with psionic characters??

Any suggestions of feats that would combine well would be great...

- Jon "Demajen" Burrage

 

[Jairami]

Well because you get bonus feats all over the place (while still increasing your "mystical" ability as opposed to advancing one or the other), you can take all the wonderful archery ones such as...

Far Shot
Rapid Shot
Precise Shot
Shot on the Run
Sharp-Shooting (Sword and Fist)
Ranged Disarm (Dragon 274)
Ranged Pin (Dragon 274) --gotta do this one, staple someone's arm to the wall at some point.

But as you mentioned you also gained access to wonderful ones like...

Fell Shot
Speed of Thought
Up the Walls
Body Fuel
Inertial Armor --and you can actually describe it as inertial in effect, stealing the steam out of an opponents weapon or returned fire just long enough for a miniscule movement to evade the attack
Mental Leap --huge leaps are very cool, just watch Jump!
Psionic Shot
Psychic Inquisitor --if he ever goes Spanish Inquisition on somebody who he suspects of knowing who it was that just gravely wronged him or injured a loved one, then the glowing eyes you can describe while he looms can be very intimidating
Return Shot

That's about all the ideas I can come up with. Hope something in their sparks your creative juices.

 

[demajen]

Damn man, i'm gonna feel really guilty nicking all those ideas... love the staple the arm to the wall thing. Don't suppose you have the details for those last three archer feats do you...? I don't have that issue of Dragon (it was the Sherwood one wasn't it) and Sword and Fist I can't get until WotC sort out their European shipping disputes... that'd be really great. You've been of immense help...

 

[Jairami]

I e-mailed some information to you at the address the boards gave me for you. Good luck!

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Aren't you going at it backward?

I think you should just go ahead and write the story you want to write. Don't stray too far from D&D rules but bend them as you see fit. Then the fans will design dozen of Prestige Classes that could justify the more unusual of your character abilities.

 

[demajen]

That's the other way of doing it I suppose. Trouble is, I've always been a bit of a stickler for D&D characters in novels who flagrantly disregard the rules. Still, I suppose thats what Prestige Classes are there for...to add a little spice in the face of the adversity of boredom. Well, I have a brief concept -

Andarcal
Human Male
Psionic Warrior (Bow Specialist) 10th level(ish), 2nd level(ish) (prestige class - depends on what kewl abilities I can find)
STR 13, DEX 19 (maybe 20 with increased abilities for levels), CON 15, INT 16, WIS 13, CHA 17 (all my characters are blessed with wit and charm... )
Skills and Feats to come...check this space... maybe I'll even write a snippet to go with it...

Jairami, thanx for the info. That ranged pin is gonna see some use methinks.

Keep on sending me ideas guys. I really appeciate the input. Why I didn't think of posting on these boards earlie is beyond me...